


In the Name of Love

by potooyoutoo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, S6:E5 The Black Paladins, Speculation of Death, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 01:57:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15232860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potooyoutoo/pseuds/potooyoutoo
Summary: Kuron's so close. All he wants is for this nightmare to end. To stop hurting the only people he's ever cared about.





	In the Name of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Many, many thanks to the glorious [National_Nobody](http://archiveofourown.org/users/National_Nobody/pseuds/National_Nobody) for prodding me into writing this (and also being a badass editor).

He didn’t want to fight, but it was too late to go back now.

Feet slamming into the central platform, Kuron looked down at Keith, broken, bruised, and struggling for breath. It was painful to watch, and as his programed instincts screamed at him to finish it, Kuron couldn’t help but hold back a moment to let the guilt and regret wash over him. After all, none of it would matter in a few moments. Neither one of them was making it off this planet alive.

Beneath him, Keith shifted. Gritting his teeth, Kuron reactivated his plasma blade before lunging in for a killing blow. Surprisingly, the weapon was halted, Keith somehow managing to muster enough strength to snatch up his Marmora dagger, holding it like a lifeline between them. Rage and anguish warred inside Kuron’s chest as he bore down on the struggling young man beneath him.

“Shiro,” Keith pleaded, breath ragged, “please!”

Kuron didn’t let up, bitterness and sorrow flaring up at being called that name. Of being reminded of exactly who he was not.

“You’re my brother,” Keith ground out, struggling in vain to keep the plasma blade away from his face. Tears were threatening at the corners of his eyes as he begged, “I love you.”

The words were like a jolt to the heart, Kuron momentarily stunned. Blinking in surprise, he quickly recovered, resigned now to what he had to do. It wasn’t fair, he knew, but none of this was fair. Kuron had never asked to replace Shiro, had never asked to be brought broken into this world by Haggar’s magic, forced to train and study to become someone else. He was just a number, just another in a long line of clones, only he hadn’t been a failure. No, instead, he’d had to play the role of leader to this band of lost, determined children. Had to spend months at their side, living and laughing and loving. It wasn’t fair that he’d had all that stripped away in a second. But it had. He’d done as his programming demanded. He’d  _ hurt _ Lance and Coran, Pidge and Hunk and Allura. He’d rigged the Castle to shut down, condemning all the people he’d come to love in just a few short months to a horrible, agonizing death. It wasn’t fair, but it was the way things were.

Schooling his expression and biting back the swell of anguish rising in his chest, Kuron grit his teeth and pressed down harder, snarling, “Just let go, Keith. You don’t have to fight anymore.”

Keith’s eyes were wide and pleading now as he strained against Kuron. Kuron could see the desperation in his eyes, the raw, naive belief that there was still good in him, just like Haggar had said.

“By now the team’s already gone,” Kuron said, teeth gritted and voice tight, resignation seeping into the words as he willed Keith to give in to the inevitable. Beneath him, Keith’s arms were weakening, his dagger dropping lower as he turned his face away from the descending plasma blade. “I saw to it myself.”

As the the heat from the plasma blade began to raise a nasty welt along Keith’s cheek, the younger man’s face twisted in pain, Kuron couldn’t help his desperate thoughts.  _ Please, just give up. I don’t want to hurt you any more. I just want this to be over _ . 

He didn’t see it coming.

In a flash, Keith let out a wild snarl, unleashing the black bayard and slashing up and outward. The pain was extraordinary, like lightning racing through his arm, into his shoulder and chest. Reeling back, Kuron let out a shout, stumbling to his knees as the aftershocks from his severed arm raced through his body. Pain sparked through him, but for the first time in forever, it was as if he were thinking clearly. Eyes wide in disbelief, his thoughts unbound by programming or magic floating loosely through his mind, Kuron looked up. Keith stood before him, gaze solemn but not broken, regretful but determined. He felt himself breaking apart, all the pieces of his consciousness that had made him  _ him _ , Kuron, not Shiro or a clone or anything else, drifting away. It was strange, to realize he was dying, and with one last glance, Kuron called, “Keith…”

Above them, the main generator exploded, raining shrapnel and debris down around them, and at last, he was free.


End file.
